Last Saturday October 25th, in Madrid's Corral de la Pacheca,
Manuel de los Santos was reunited with his followers in Spain's
capital in a performance that had aroused great excitement
among flamenco fans.
A
pesar de lo lluviosa y fría que se presentaba la jornada,
fueron bastantes los que se acercaron pasada la medianoche
del sábado al Corral de la Pacheca para disfrutar de
una nueva convocatoria de «Flamenco circular», siendo
además un local bastante acogedor a todos los niveles
para este tipo de actos. En esta ocasión, le tocaba
el turno a Agujetas de Jerez que, aunque realmente nació
en Rota, por su arte, estilo, y vida se le puede considerar
perfectamente jerezano. Tras una introducción de Antonio
Benamargo, sube al escenario Manuel acompañado del
sevillano Antonio Soto, ganador del Bordón Minero en
el 2002 y Premio Nacional de Córdoba en el 2001. Manuel
se muestra simpático y sonriente, «esta noche
estamos como en familia», reveladora frase en la que
demostraba su buena disposición cantaora.
Despite the rain and cold, plenty of people turned out after
midnight Saturday to enjoy another presentation of the series
«Flamenco Circular» at Corral de la Pacheca, a rather cozy
venue for this type of show. On this occasion it was Agujetas
de Jerez, though born in Rota his school of singing, his art,
his delivery and his life situate him perfectly in Jerez.
After an introduction by Antonio Benamargo, Manuel went up
on stage accompanied by guitarist Antonio Soto of Seville,
winner in 2002 of the Bordón Minero (highest prize for guitar-playing
at La Unión) and in 2001, of the Premio Nacional de Córdoba.
Manuel comes on friendly and smiling, «tonight is like a family
affair», a revealing sentence that showed he was prepared
to really sing.
Bulerías pa' escuchar as Manuel himself called what
he then proceeded to sing, with Antonio's capo on seven, afterwards
moved down to two for Manuel's seguiriyas.
After a break, once again on the seventh fret for a round
of soleá after which, another seguiriya followed. Yayo
shouts out his approval of the latter and Manuel replies that
with the best friends in the world, and the wife he's got,
he can't help but sing well. Tientos, and it was a welcome
change of rhythm as everything up to then had been more or
less in the same line. He did a fine job with them and closed
with tangos. More bulerías pa' escuchar, on seven again,
danced by Kanako, Manuel's wife. To close, after announcing
fandangos he finally decided to do soleá at the request
of a guitarist from Morón who was in the front row,
and then ended with martinetes.
As far as 'art' and Agujetas' behaviour on stage, a lot needs
to be said. It's basically true that he's an essential singer
in the present flamenco panorama, since his seguiriyas are
delivered in a truly minimalist fashion. He never goes for
flashy tricks or easy applause, he just carries on with his
cante with depth and in the old style, with no concern for
the applause that may or may not be forthcoming, although
it always comes because that which is worthwhile is always
recognized. With the soleá you could say the same,
and these are characteristics that make Agujetas an irreplaceable
maestro of the current generation of flamenco singers.
The only possible drawback is an overgrown ego, and his personal
conviction that flamenco is as closed as he says. There was
an unfortunate comment that «one old chair is worth more
than ten new ones», when in actual fact that outlook
establishes a certain kind of dogmatic behaviour. Generally
speaking, an old chair is good, it has demonstrated its permanence
with the passage of time, but Manuel might do well to remember
that at some point he too was a «new chair», and
his art was nearly as good as it is now. It makes more sense
to distinguish between good and bad, than young and old. Beyond
that, his customary comments made with regal airs are another
ingredient of one of the most quirky personalities in flamenco.
We hope to soon be able to see this maestro again and enjoy
his singing which is far above the ideas he sprinkles it with.
